Gopal Menon

Gopal Menon (full name Mamballikalam Gopal Menon) is an Indian documentary filmmaker. He has made films on violence, communalism, nationality questions, state repression, human rights, environment, and caste.

Biography

Menon was born in 1974 and completed his BA in English from Calicut University, Kerala. He then acquired a Master's in Business Administration.Menon started his film career with a documentary on the destruction of tropical evergreen forests in the Nilgiri biosphere. While still a student of Business Administration, he started working with the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on the organized violence on Muslims in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and the subsequent bomb blasts in the city. Menon worked from September 1998 to April 2003 as Program Coordinator for Other Media Communications, New Delhi. The role involved running the electronic and print divisions of the company.He has been documenting the Naga and Kashmiri political movements since 1998. Two films have evolved from this - "Naga Story: The Other Side of Silence" (on the Naga struggle) and "PAPA 2" (on enforced disappearances in Kashmir). Menon's film "Hey Ram!! Genocide in the Land of Gandhi", on the Gujarat riots, was the first on the subject, and was widely used to raise awareness about the riots. He followed this up with "Voices from Gujarat" on the continuing peace process in Gujarat. Menon has made several films on the Dalit issue. "Resilient Rhythms" documents a range of responses to the Dalit issue, from identity politics to armed struggle. Menon's other Dalit issue films are "Of Inhuman Bondage", on manual scavenging, and "Your Slaves No Longer", on the land struggles of Musahars (a Dalit community). He has worked as Location Director for a Channel 4 News report on the funding of Hindu Extremist organisations and shot the film in UK and India. This film – "Hindu Nationalism in Britain" – was telecast in UK on the day of the Gujarat elections and was widely reported in the Indian media as well. The report has subsequently been tabled in the British Parliament. His recent campaign films "Twice Evicted" and "Caste Out" have been on the Tsunami and its aftermath. Menon's films have been screened at several film festivals. His film "Naga Story" was presented the 'Spirit of the Himalayas' award at the Netherlands Himalaya Film Festival in 2004.Menon is currently making a film for Pesticide Action Network-Asia Pacific on the struggle of rice farmers against globalization.

Filmography

As Producer and Director:

"A Bloody Harvest", 2006

Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, English. 15 min.
A campaign film to resist the World Trade Organization's entry into agriculture and other livelihood resources. Documents farmer and weaver suicides in three Indian states, and the resistance from people.
"Twice Evicted", 2005
Tamil, English. 27 min
On the eviction of fisher folk from Tamil Nadu's 1000 km coastline, ostensibly for protecting them future tsunamis, but actually to push the government's hidden agenda of globalisation.
"Caste Out", 2005
Tamil, English. 35 min
On the discrimination of Dalits in relief and rehabilitation after tsunami by the State, NGOs, other communities.
"Your Slaves No Longer", 2004
Hindi, Bhojpuri. 35 min.
On the land struggles of Musahars (a Dalit caste) in UP and Bihar.
"Of Inhuman Bondage", 2004
Hindi, Bhojpuri. 28 min
On the continuing practice of manual scavenging by Dalits.
"Voices from Gujarat", 2004
Hindi and English. 35 min.
Following the carnage of 2002, several organisations have been involved in the peace process. A look at the attempts for rehabilitation, and reconciliation, and the struggle for justice.

Premiered at WSF, Mumbai
"PAPA 2", 2002
Kashmiri and Urdu. 25 min
PAPA 2 was a notorious interrogation centre run by the Indian Armed Forces in Kashmir till 1996. Officially, over 2000 - unofficially, over 8000 - people have disappeared from the Kashmir Valley over the past 15 years. Most of these are enforced disappearances. The film, "PAPA 2", documents the struggle of the mothers and wives of disappeared persons to trace their loved ones. It features interviews with the families of the affected people and also members of the Association of Parents of Disappeared People.
Screened at Film South Asia 2003, Kathmandu; ivFest 2003, Trivandrum; Nottam 2002, Kerala; WSF 2004, Mumbai, The Netherlands Himalayas Film Festival, Amsterdam, 2004. Invited to the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Alberta, Canada.

"Let Iraq Live: Stop the War", 2003
English, 16 min
Featuring interviews with humanitarian workers, this was a campaign film made just before the War on Iraq.
As Director and Cameraman:
"Rice: The Treasure of Asia", 2007
English, Bahasa, Thai
On the struggle by rice farmers against globalization
"Naga Story: The Other Side of Silence", 2003 [http://www.othermediacommunications.com/Productions/Documentaries-in-Production/NAGA-STORY.html]
Nagamese, Manipuri, English and 14 Naga languages with English subtitles. 62 min
The Nagas are a 3 million-strong indigenous people who occupy the North-East frontier of the Indian subcontinent. The Naga political struggle is one of the oldest nationality movements in South Asia, continuing till present times. The film Naga Story provides an introduction to the history of the Naga struggle, and documents the human rights abuses suffered by the Naga people in more than 50 years of the existence of Independent India.
Naga Story, which took 5 years to complete, is the first comprehensive film about the Naga struggle for identity, self-determination, peace, and justice.
Winner of the 'Spirit of the Himalayas' First Prize at The Netherlands Himalayas Film Festival, Amsterdam, 2004. Withdrawn from MIFF 2004 along with 6 other films as part of the Campaign Against Censorship by Indian filmmakers. Screened at the protest festival "Vikalp 2004", Mumbai. Invited to the Telluride Mountain Film Festival, Telluride, Colorado, USA, and the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Alberta, Canada, and Signs 2005, organised by Federation of Film Societies India, Kerala.
"Resilient Rhythms", 2002 [http://www.othermediacommunications.com/Productions/Documentaries-in-Production/RESILIENT-RHYTHMS.html]
Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bhojpuri with English subtitles. 66 min
India's caste system is perhaps the world's longest surviving system of exploitation based on social hierarchy. It places nearly 160 million people – the Dalits – at the outskirts of society, exploiting their services, especially to perform so-called "polluting" tasks, from cutting the umbilical cord, to disposing night-soil, to tending cremation grounds, while denying them acceptance even as human beings. The film documents the various atrocities that are committed on people simply because of their caste and shows how Dalits are fighting back.
Resilient Rhythms is the first comprehensive film on the Dalit issue attempted in India and explores a range of Dalit responses, from armed struggle to electoral politics.

Screened at Film South Asia 2003, Katmandu and included in their traveling film festival, Traveling FSA; ivFest 2003, Trivandrum; River to River Festival 2003, Florence; World Social Form 2004, Mumbai; South Asian Human Rights Film Festival 2004, Asia Society, New York and Syracuse University; Delhi Art Central 2004, New Delhi; Matteela Film Festival 2004, Lahore; Drishti Film festival 2004, Princeton University; International Asian Film Festival, San Francisco and Milpitas; Small Films in a Smaller World 2004, Thrissur
"Hey Ram!! Genocide in the Land of Gandhi", 2002
Hindi, 25 min
In the Gujarat violence, over a 1000 people were killed and more than 100,000 rendered homeless. Women and children were made the targets of especially brutal attacks. Property and sources of livelihood were systematically destroyed. Places of worship were destroyed or desecrated.
"Hey Ram!!" was the first film to be completed on the Gujarat riots and was released even as the violence was raging in Gujarat. It has been extensively screened in India and several other countries to raise support for the victims of the riots and to create awareness about the systematic way in which the communal violence was engineered.

Screened at the Asian Film Festival, King's College, Cambridge; Mission Cultural Central, San Francisco; Artists' Television Access, San Francisco; Jain Centre of Northern California, Milpitas; Peace Works, Seagull Arts and Media Centre, Kolkota; Films Against Communalism, Nottam 2002, Kerala; Wolfson College, Oxford; also screened at Stanford University, MIT and Stony Brook University, New York, and at more than 1000 venues in India and other countries.
As Location Director and Cameraman:
"Hindu Nationalism in Britain", Produced by Channel 4 News
A news report on how funds collected in Britain by RSS-affiliated organizations in the name of earthquake relief in Gujarat, were actually used to foment communal violence in Gujarat. This report was telecast in the UK on the day of the Gujarat elections and widely reported in the Indian media as well. The report has subsequently been tabled in the British Parliament.

External Articles

* Action-Packed Life, The Hindu, 2002 [http://www.hinduonnet.com/mag/2002/06/02/stories/2002060200290500.htm]
* Hey Ram: Genocide in the Land of Gandhi - A Film by Gopal Menon [http://www.ektaonline.org/events/gujarat2002/menon.htm]
* Condemn the Attack on Filmmaker Gopal Menon and His Team [http://india.indymedia.org/en/2003/07/5625.shtml]
* Sharing South Asian Angst, The Hindu, 2003 [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2003/10/26/stories/2003102600200500.htm]
* For Some Light on Our Dark Side, The Hindu, 2002 [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lf/2002/05/05/stories/2002050500260200.htm]
* Vivan Sundaram's Work Using Gopal Menon's Film [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2005/08/12/stories/2005081202290300.htm]
* Documentary on Gujarat Frenzy [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lf/2002/03/25/stories/2002032502570200.htm]
* Gandhi's Gujarat [http://www.samarmagazine.org/archive/article.php?id=122]
* Film South Asia, 2003 [http://www.himalassociation.org/fsa/filmsouthasia_film-list-2003.htm]
* Filmmakers Protest Against MIFF [https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/2004-January/003386.html]
* Irked Filmmakers Shun MIFF, Organize Their Own Vikalp [http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k4/jan/jan227.htm]
* Election Commission Bans Film on Gujarat in Goa [http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/may/24train.htm]
* Films Screened at WSF [http://www.magiclanternfoundation.org/wsffilms_catlist.htm]
* Hey Ram!! Helps Raise $40,000 at Fundraiser [http://www.desiclub.com/community/culture/culture_article.cfm?id=97]
* Kontra-Agos Festival, 2007 [http://hiraya.multiply.com/journal/item/114/Kontra_Agos_A_Resistance_Film_Festival]